Loom doff truck

ABSTRACT

A loom doff truck to doff full rolls of fabric from a loom which eliminates a great deal of manual labor. The truck has a hydraulic control system which allows the operator to automatically move the lifting elements into position and to move the roll of fabric into the storage bin on the truck.

United States Patent Hunter et al.

1451 Aug. 20, 1974 [5 LOOM DOFF TRUCK 1,817,392 8/1931 Onliger 212/145 11 Carl Red Springs, NC; 51131;??? 311323 135331321611:1:111:11: 131::331132 Charles Kay, Anderson 3,603,464 9 1971 Teodorescu .1 214 77 [73]Assignee: Deering Milliken Research Corporauon! Spartanburg, PrimaryExaminer-Robert J. Spar 22 Filed; Aug 1 1972 Assistant Examiner-Lawrence.l. Oresky I Attorney, Agent, or FirmNorman C. Armltage; H. PP N05281,955 William Petty; Earle R. Marden Related US. Application Data [62]Division of Ser. No. 139,003, April 30, 1971.

[57] ABSTRACT 2% 8 212/145 5 A loom doff truck to doff full rolls offabric from a k B 4 loom which eliminates a great deal of manual labor.le 31;; 180/103 R The truck has a hydraulic control system which allowsthe operator to automatically move the lifting elements into positionand to move the roll of fabric into [56] References cued the storage binon the truck.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,235,280 7/1971 Blackburn 212/57 1 Claim, 7Drawing Figures 62 WM- Memento. ,3 a l Vi" We V s 1 i 1 M 1 o 58 so J a4 3 6 5 4 '1 l l' 1 1 3 8 I 43%l19esrl east/52 O 4 1k: -1|

4 o LB 2 PAliNIinmzolsu PAIENIED 13201924 SHEEI30F4 FIG. -3-

Fla-4 LOOM DOFF TRUCK This application is a division of Application Ser.No. 139,003, filed Apr. 30, 1971.

In many textile mills it is customary for an operator to manually lift afull roll of fabric from the looms and carry it to a nearby truck fortransportation. This work is arduous as well as being dangerous and inthese times of full employment it is difficult to hire people to do thistype of work.

Therefore it is an object of the invention to provide a loom doff truckwhich will eliminate a great deal of manual handling of the rolls ofcloth and will expedite the doffing of such rolls from a loom.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readilyapparent as the specification proceeds to-discribe the invention withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a partiallyschematic view showing the new and improved loom doff truck in positionadjacent a loom to be doffed;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the new and improved loom doff truck;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the truck stabilizing mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the stabilizing mechanism shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is .a view taken on line 55 of FIG. 2 showing the roll storagecontainer;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. .5 showing the roll storage containerin the dumping position; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic control diagram for the loom doff truck.

Looking now to FIG. 1 the loom doff truck, generally designated 10, isshown located in an alley of a weave room between two looms l2 and 14located on the opposite sides of the alley. In this position the truckcan doff rolls of fabric 16 from four looms before it is moved up thealley. Electric power for the doffing cycle of the truck is obtained byelectric sources (not show) located adjacent the looms to be doffed.

The doff truck is driven by a battery powered motor 18 mounted on thetruck body 20 and steered by a suitable steering mechanism 22. Supportedbelow the frame 20 are wheels 24 and stabilizer rods 26. As will behereinafter explained none of the elements of the doff truck other thanthe motor 18 can be actuated until the piston member 28 has beenactuated to rotate and lower the stabilizer rods 26 to the positionshown in FIG. 4. This is accomplished by supplying hydraulic fluid topiston 28 causing the piston rod 30 to rotate the stabilizer rodsconnected thereto downwardly and outwardly due to the downward movementof the pin member 32 following the groove 34 as the piston rod 30 ispushed down by the pressure of the hydraulic fluid in the piston againstthe piston head (not shown). Once the stabilizer rods 26 are rotated toa downward position perpendicular to the truck 10, the truck 10 will nottopple sideways and the truck is now ready to doff cloth rolls 16 fromthe looms 14.

The main components of the boom structure 36 are hydraulically actuatedby hydraulic fluid supplied to the reservoir 38 under pressure throughhydraulic line 39 by pump 40 driven by electric piston 42. Mounted inthe reservoir 38 and operably associated with the hydraulic fluid supplyfrom pump 40 are six control valves which control the flow of hydraulicfluid to the operative members of the doff truck. Connected to thecontrol valves are handles 43, 44, 46, 48, 50 and 52 to allow theoperator to open the valves to supply hydraulic fluid to the operativeelements of the doff truck.

Handle 43 controls the flow of hydraulic fluid to the piston 28 tocontrol the position of the stabilizer rods 26. Handle 44 is connectedto the control valve which supplies hydraulic fluid to the piston whichraises the boom support member 54 up and down. Handle 46 controls theflow of hydraulic fluid to the boom rota tion cylinder 56 to rotate theboom support member 54 either to the right or to the left depending onwhich side of the alley the loom to be doffed is located. Handle 48 isemployed to control the extension and retraction of the telescoped boommembers 58 and 60 to control the position of hydraulic winch motor 62and winch line 64 relative to the looms 12 and 14. Hydraulic winch motor62 is controlled by action of handle 50 while handle 52 controls thesupply of hydraulic fluid to dump piston 66.

The dump piston 66 is pivotally connected at 68 to the truck body 20 atone end and to the roll storage container 69 at 70. The roll storagecontainer 69 is pivotally supported by a shaft 72 rotatably mounted inupright supports 74 which are welded or otherwise secured to the truckbody 20. It should be kept in mind that all the hydraulic control valvesand pistons are double acting so that when the handles are pushed in onedirection hydraulic fluid will be supplied in one direction andexhausted in the other and vice versa in order to obtain movement of thehydraulic actuated element in both directions, when desired.

OPERATION The initial step in the use of the improved loom doff truck isthat an oprator will disengage all the rolls 16 from the looms to bedoffed and place the rolls on the floor. The doff truck will then moveup the alley between the looms to be doffed and stopped in the desiredposition. The operator then plugs in the electrical cable to a 550 voltA.C. power source 76 at the loom to provide a source of electricity.Looking now at FIG. 7, the operator moves switch 78 downward to energizerelay coil 80 which pulls relay 82 to complete the circuit to coil 84 ofthe hydraulic pump motor 18. Hydraulic fluid is then supplied to piston28 by actuation of handle 43 to lower and rotate the stabilizer rods 26into the position shown in FIG. 4. As the rods 26 are being rotated intoposition switch 86 is made to lock in the relay coil 80 so that the pump40 maintains a supply of hydraulic-fluid for the function of the boommechanism. At the same time switch 88 is disengaged to denergize thecoil 90 of the truck motor so that the truck can not be moved until thestabilizer rods 26 have been retracted. 7

When thedoff truck has been stabilized, the operator will actuatehandles 44 and 46 to raise and rotate the boom support member to thedesired position. Then handle 48 will be actuated to extend thetelescoping boom members 58 and 60 to a position where the winch line 64is over the roll to be picked up. Then the handle 50 is actuated tosupply hydraulic fluid to the motor 62 to lower the winch line 64 andthe pick-up clamps 92 to a position adjacent the roll 16. The operatorthen will place the roll in the clamps 92, raise the winch line 64,retract the telescoping boom members 58 and 60 and rotate the boomsupport member 54 to a position over the roll storage container 69. Thenthe winch line 64 is lowered and the roll 16 is deposited in thecontainer 69. The above operation is then repeated until all the rolls16 have been picked up that can be reached at the particular doff trucklocation. Then the truck is moved to another position and the aboveoperation continues.

When the truck is full it is moved to a grading table (not shown) whichhas a height lower than the top of the roll storage container 69. Thetruck is again stabilized and handle 52 is actuated to supply hydraulicfluid to piston 66 to pivot the container 69 to the position shown inFIG. 6 and the rolls will roll out the container 69 onto the gradingtable where the doffed rolls will be inspected and graded. The truckwill then be returned to the weave room for further doffing of looms.

' -It can readily be seen that we have provided a loom doff truck whichlessens considerably the manual labor involved .in doffing looms andalso decreases the the problems of obtaining personnel to perform thisfunction.

Although we have described in detail the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it is contemplated that many changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit of our invention and we desire to belimited only by-the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. A doff truck for a loom comprising a frame, wheel means supportingsaid frame, means mounted on said frame to drive said truck, fluidactuated boom means operably associated with said frame to lift andcarry a roll of fabric, said boom means including an overhead boom whichis capable of handling a roll of fabric beyond the boundary of the frameof said doff truck stabilizer means pivotally connected to said truckframe to prevent said truck from tipping over when said boom means isactuated, means to automatically pivot said stabilizer means outwardlyfrom said truck and means operably associated with said means to pivotsaid stabilizer means to prevent said means to drive said truck frombeing actuated while said stabilizer means are pivoted outwardly and toactuate the fluid control circuit to said boom means.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No- 3. 830377 Dated August 20, 1974 Inventor(s) Hunter et a1.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent andthat said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line36, the word "oprator" should read --operator--.

Column 3, line 22, the word --1oom-- should be added before doff truck.

Column 3, 1ine Z4,- the word "problems" should read --prob1em-.

Signed and sealed this 29th day of October 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY ,M. GIBSON JR. i c. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer I 1Commissioner of Patents E FORM PC4050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC 603764 69 us.eovzmmnrr rmmmc omcz 1 ins 0-466-83L

1. A doff truck for a loom comprising a frame, wheel means supportingsaid frame, means mounted on said frame to drive said truck, fluidactuated boom means operably associated with said frame to lift andcarry a roll of fabric, said boom means including an overhead boom whichis capable of handling a roll of fabric beyond the boundary of the frameof said doff truck stabilizer means pivotally connected to said truckframe to prevent said truck from tipping over when said boom means isactuated, means to automatically pivot said stabilizer means outwardlyfrom said truck and means operably associated with said means to pivotsaid stabilizer means to prevent said means to drive said truck frombeing actuated while said stabilizer means are pivoted outwardly and toactuate the fluid control circuit to said boom means.